THE CONCUBINE || TAEKOOK ||

THIRTY SIX

The King's Chambers

The door closed behind Jungkook with a soft click.

King Junghyun sat by the window, silhouetted against the fading afternoon light. He looked older than he had that morning decades older, as though the day's events had aged him a lifetime.

He did not turn.

"Sit."

Jungkook sat in the chair across from his father.

Silence.

The shadows lengthened. The light shifted from gold to amber to grey.

Finally, the King spoke.

"I have spent the past hours thinking," he said quietly. "About your mother. About this family. About the choices that brought us here."

Jungkook said nothing.

"I loved her once. Genuinely. Deeply." His father's voice was distant, remembering. "She was not always like this. The ambition, the scheming, the need to control—it grew slowly, like a weed in a garden. By the time I noticed, it had already choked out everything else."

He turned to look at his son.

"I failed her. I failed you. I failed that boy."

Jungkook shook his head. "Father—"

"I did." The King's voice was firm. "I saw what was happening. I saw her pushing you, controlling you, treating you as a piece on her chess board. And I said nothing. I did nothing. I told myself it was easier to keep the peace."

He looked away.

Jungkook's hands tightened on his knees.

"What happens now?" he asked quietly.

The King was silent for a long moment.

"Now," he said finally, "we rebuild. If we can."

He reached into his robe and withdrew the scroll the old, yellowed decree he had shown Jungkook before.

"The engagement to Yoon-ah," he said. "I will dissolve it."

Jungkook's breath caught.

"It will cause chaos. The Min clan will be furious. The court will whisper. Your mother—" He paused, his jaw tightening. "Your mother will have even more reason to hate me. But I do not care."

Jungkook's breath caught in his throat. His hands, resting on his knees, curled into fists. He leaned forward in his chair, his eyes fixed on his father's face, waiting.

"Taehyung came to my room a few days ago," King Junghyun said quietly. His gaze was distant, fixed on some point beyond the window, beyond the palace walls. "He and I... we had a long talk that day."

Jungkook's heart pounded. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. Words felt inadequate. He simply moved to the edge of his seat, his entire body leaning toward his father as though proximity might draw the story out faster.